Beyond classes: Teachers make individual calls, cheer up students

With schools across the country closed in the wake of the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), children are keeping up with

With schools across the country closed in the wake of the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), children are keeping up with their lessons through online classes and remotely delivered assignments. While technology is allowing them to virtually connect with classmates and teachers, schools are also taking cognisance of the lockdown’s possible fallout on the students’ mental well being.

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To provide students with a stress-free learning experience, several private schools across the city are taking steps to ensure that children are not overwhelmed by remote classes and schedules.

Parents of the students of Delhi Public School, Sector 45, were surprised when they received a video featuring the school’s principal and headmistresses dancing to songs while doing household chores, such as sweeping and cleaning. The video, they said, brought a smile to their children’s faces.

Aditi Misra, principal of the school, said that the idea behind the video was to make children laugh at a time when they have been away from physical classrooms for over a month due to the unprecedented circumstances.

“During the third week of the lockdown, students sounded low while attending one of the online classes. When I asked why, one of them said that they wanted schools to reopen soon. I realised that it was important to cheer students up, especially since there was no certainty around the resumption of offline classes any time soon,” Misra, who reached out to the school’s leadership team and headmistresses soon after, said. “We put together this video of us dancing and doing chores. The idea was to send out the message that household work is dignified work as well as make people smile. The video got a good response from parents too,” Misra said. The school has also asked children to share videos of them dancing, acting, and doing other activities, which are being collated on the school portal.

Amity International School, Sector 43, has pooled in resources with Amity University for a 24*7 helpline, where problems shared by children are recorded and responded to. “Sometimes, there’s a live exchange when a counsellor is available to talk. If not, someone calls the student back to discuss issues they want to share,” said Arora.

She said that children, like everyone else, were experiencing emotional and mental pressures due to the lockdown situation. “Children, too, are used to their safe spaces, places where they can go out and interact with others their age, something that has not been happening since the lockdown began. They are learning to cope with the changed realities,” Arora said, adding that the school was continuously writing to parents and students to ensure that they can make sense of the situation.

She said that psychologists were conducting regular counselling sessions for students in senior classes, while counselling had been integrated into value education classes for students in the junior wing. “Regular classes are conducted for students in the senior wing. Besides, the psychologist also pitches in with talks for the middle school. For junior students, the school has integrated counselling in the value education classes,” Arora said.

Sonal Kaushik, whose son is a Class 9 student at Manav Rachna International School, Sector 46, said that the school had conducted a counselling session with students this week where issues related to stress and ways of dealing with it were discussed. “Insights on mediation and other processes that can help maintain composure were shared during the class. Children are beginning to miss school, their routine and their friends now. As parents, we are keeping calm and encouraging our son to do the same,” Kaushik same.

At Heritage Xperiential Learning School, besides the daily check-ins during classes, school teachers have been calling students individually to ensure their well being during this difficult time, Vishnu Karthik, director, Heritage Group of Schools, said. Teachers at the school also held virtual assemblies and end-of-year closures for students to ensure that they were not deprived of meaningful experiences.

Jyoti Raghavan, whose children study in two different private schools, said that both her daughters had been missing school a lot. “I had never thought that I would hear my children talk about going back to school. They are missing their friends, teachers and the environment. They are missing the routine of waking up in the morning and rushing to school,” Raghavan said. She said that while there was a difference in seeing each other onscreen and being with each other in person, children were using technology for staying in touch with their peers as a coping mechanism.